


A Beautiful Dream

by Lurkinginthecorner



Category: Hunger Games (2012) RPF, Josh Hutcherson - Fandom, Real Person Fiction, jennifer lawrence - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-03
Updated: 2014-03-03
Packaged: 2018-01-14 11:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1264951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lurkinginthecorner/pseuds/Lurkinginthecorner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A wardrobe malfunction in the midst of filming a particular scene from Catching Fire prompts Jennifer and Josh to have a good heart-to-heart conversation about their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Beautiful Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This is NOT related to the "I Loved You All Along" universe.

_October 21st, 2012_

“That dress looks beautiful.”

I examine my reflection in the mirror while Trish finishes zipping the black and silver fitted dress I’m wearing for the scene we’re shooting today. The bright white spots from the studio make the silver pieces of the clothing appear to shine a little bit in the mirror. I run a hand over the soft fabric, feeling it hug the curves of my hips.

“I wanted this dress to look like it was stylish enough to belong in the Capitol, while being a bit subdued as well,” she says, inviting me to twirl around to make sure it falls over my body perfectly. “Very good. And Josh’s suit is gonna match your dress.”

I answer with a beaming smile. I can’t wait to see him in his costume. So far, we’ve filmed many scenes where he had to dress up, wearing tailored jackets and spectacular suits – the leather one with golden accents he wore for the Capitol party scene was particularly striking – and he always looks so handsome in them.

I mean, he’s always handsome, no matter what he’s wearing. But he really looks out of this world when he’s got these costumes on.

Trish tells me to get to the stage and so I leave the dressing room, walking up to Stanley and Francis, who are going over the scene we’re about to film.

Today, I’m getting proposed to for the first time.

Of course, it’s not me per se, but rather my character, and it’s a fake proposal, but who cares? It’s still nice to imagine. And there’s something about the fact that Josh is the one proposing, that warms my heart even more.

I don’t know why.

Francis looks up from his notes and smiles at me. I walk behind the desk and stretch out a little, peeking at the pieces of paper spread out on the lilac-painted wooden surface.

“Hey, Jen,” Francis says. “Ready?”

“Me? I’m always ready. Now if only my annoying costar was ready too...” I say with a fake frown, looking around to see if I can spot him in the crowd of crew people preparing the set for filming.

“He’s supposed to be done soon. Trish told me he might have some trouble getting into those pants.”

“Oh, really?” I tease. He winks in return.

“We’ll wait for him before going through the scene,” he says while writing something down on a sheet of paper. After a while, he looks up, and I follow his gaze until I can recognize Josh’s form in the distance. A shiver runs through me as he gets close enough that I can take in his appearance.

He’s simply gorgeous in the costume. The black and silver jacket fits him like a glove, and the tight pants reveal his muscled thighs stretching the fabric with each step he makes towards me. Add the elegantly styled hair and discreet makeup to the look, and he’s just unbelievably sexy.

The closer he gets to us, the harder the butterflies in my stomach and tingling sensations in my lower body are to ignore. I shift on my feet uncomfortably, but I find myself unable to keep my eyes off him, even when he’s planted before me and staring at me with a teasing grin.

“Like what you see?” he finally says, taking an exaggerated pose.

“Those pants are awfully tight, you know,” I reply with an equally overstated look.

“Believe me, I know!” he laughs. “I can’t wait to be done with this scene so I can change.”

I feel eyes on us and turn around to find Francis staring at us with a proud smile. I look down sheepishly.

“Sorry...” I say. “Where were we at?”

“Now that you’re all ready,” he starts as Josh walks behind him, “here’s what I want you guys to do.”

He turns to address Josh directly.

“So basically, you get down on one knee, you say whatever you want cause it’s just gonna be projected on a screen in the movie. You slip the ring on her finger and you two kiss as you get back up.” He stretches to make eye contact with Stanley. “Caesar can’t contain his happiness, and then you hug.”

Stanley nods, and Francis finally looks at me.

“Jen, make sure your reaction is a bit over the top. This is Katniss’s last desperate attempt to convince Snow.”

“Yeah, it has to look a bit awkward, cause she’s not good at it,” I reply, nodding enthusiastically.

“Exactly.”

Josh studies the notes in front of us, and I can’t help but stare at his profile. His chiseled jaw, clenching as he examines the sketches. His golden hair, shining under the spotlights. The smooth skin of his cheek, seemingly begging to be fondled.

My eyes travel down to his long fingers, lightly tapping on the desk. These fingers he likes to use to playfully tickle me or possessively grab my waist to pull me close to him for a picture.

These fingers that I find myself surprisingly wishing they would linger on my body a little more, sometimes.

I’m thrown out of my daydream when Ve motions to me to come meet her for touch-ups to my makeup. I walk up to her and stand still, silent, while she applies the powder all over my face. From my standpoint, I have a very nice view of Josh chatting with Stanley and Francis, a huge, beaming smile lighting up his whole face.

“Jennifer, keep a straight face for a second, okay?” Ve says with a grin.

“Sorry.”

I make an effort to turn my face into a serious expression again and watch Josh fumble into a box that the props assistant just brought to Francis. He takes a ring out of it and scrutinizes it, before putting it back in the box and fetching another one. This time, he looks satisfied and he puts it inside a small box. I can’t keep my eyes off them, and Ve notices it.

“He makes a very good looking fiancé, right?”

I can’t hide my grin.

“Yeah. He does.”

I surprise myself by thinking how lucky his future wife will be. To be married to such a sweet, cute, sexy, kind man. My heart somehow tightens at the thought.

Ve touches my arm as my eyes are still locked on Josh’s face.

“Hey. For today, you’ll be the lucky one.”

I turn to her and finally snap out of my thoughts.

“Why are you saying that? It’s just acting.”

“Oh, Jen...” she says, shaking her head with a huge smile. “You think it’s not obvious how you’re attracted to this boy? You’ve got stars in your eyes when you look at him. You get this dreamy look on your face every time he lays eyes on you.”

“Pfft.” I slash my hand in the air to signal my dismissal. “No way.”

“Everybody sees it, Jen,” she teases me. “What are you waiting for?”

For a moment, I don’t know what to say.

“I have a boyfriend! And I love him.”

“Fine. Tell yourself that. I’m giving you two years to figure it out. Come back to me by the time we’ve wrapped _Mockingjay_. I’m ready to bet you’ll have changed your mind by then.”

“Well, start saving up your money then,” I reply, a knot forming in my stomach. As much as I would like to fight it, and as much as I would like to think that I’m still deeply in love with Nick, I know I’m fooling myself. And I’m not an obtuse teenager anymore. I know very much what the feelings that surge in my chest whenever I think about him or even so much as catch a single glimpse of him mean.

And I know very much how complicated it would get if I ever gave in to those feelings. No, thank you.

But I can let myself dream of him, though. As long as it remains just that.

A beautiful dream.

After Ve is done applying my makeup, I walk up the stairs to the stage and I am soon joined by Josh, Stanley and Francis. We don’t have to wait a lot longer before the cameras and lighting are ready for the first take. As soon as Francis shouts “Action”, Josh gets down on one knee, and right as he makes contact with the floor, I hear a loud snapping sound.

Josh, who is supposed to be improvising something, suddenly looks up at me with wide eyes and his mouth gaping open in surprise.

“Fuck,” he finally says in a low voice, “my pants just ripped. Right up the taint. I knew this thing was way too tight.”

At the same time, he grabs my hand delicately and offers me the opened box that showcases the ring he’s picked for me. Well, for my character. I work hard not to just start laughing, but I still have room to make my spontaneous reaction look in character as I’m supposed to act all giddy for the Capitol.

Stanley, on the other hand, is really close to losing it, but he has even more latitude to act weirdly while staying in character, so we keep going.

“He ripped his pants!” he says, amplifying all his moves, covering his natural reaction at the same time.

“I can’t believe you ripped your pants!” I say in response to his inexistent proposal, hiding a chuckle in a larger-than-life smile. I imitate the seam ripping with my hands and I have to fight even harder to avoid breaking character.

I know I could give in and just burst out laughing, and we’d just scrap this take. That’s probably what will happen, despite all of us still looking somewhat in character. But the truth is that I don’t want to pass an opportunity to kiss him.

I lean into him and cradle his face.

“Love you,” I whisper, before pecking his lips tenderly as he stands back up.

I don’t know where I end and where my character starts. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore. There’s a spark in Josh’s eyes, and a definite warmth passing through our bodies when he hugs me. I rest my face on his shoulder, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck, and sigh as Stanley, still in character, joins our hug.

“Cut!”

Josh quickly lets me go and his hands fly to his crotch in an attempt to cover the gap between his legs. Now that I can have a good laugh at his expanse, I stop holding out.

“This is so embarrassing!” Josh exclaims, before sticking his tongue out. I bend to try and have a closer look at it, but he only ends up hiding himself more.

“Why are you trying so hard to cover up?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow.

He looks at me, blushing hard.

“Have you seen how tight these pants were? I tried them on with my underwear, but you could see the outline underneath, so...”

“No way!” I say loudly, before lowering my tone to barely more than a whisper and leaning closer to his face. “You went commando?”

“Did I really have a choice?” he replies, looking away in shame.

“Oh Josh...”

“It’s okay, now you can laugh at me. Or laugh at Peeta. Poor guy, first time proposing, he rips his pants!”

“Oh, come on.”

In a minute, the whole crew has walked near the stage and is cracking up as the news of what happened makes the rounds. Trish is quick to climb on the stage and assess the damage to Josh’s costume, working hard to keep a straight face.

“I’m gonna need a few minutes to fix it,” she says, motioning to Josh to follow her, which he does, still hiding his crotch area the best he can. I follow him with my eyes until he’s back in the dressing room, and Francis walks up to me.

“That was very good,” he remarks. “Nice job not breaking character.”

“Thank you.”

“Seriously though, I really love your chemistry with Josh. You guys can do just about anything. Act friendly, play characters who act in love, play it up for the Capitol. And it always comes off genuine.”

“Gary thought we always looked like siblings.”

“I don’t think you do. You look more like an old married couple, sometimes.”

I look down, feeling my cheeks get hot with my blushing.

“We know each other so well. And we enjoy being together so much. It’s bound to happen.”

“Yes. I think it is.”

It’s only when I see his teasing smile that I understand he doesn’t mean the same thing as I do. Whereas I’m talking about being on the same page, he’s likely thinking about Josh and I pursuing a romantic relationship.

What is it with everybody around us rooting for us to get together? I don’t get it. Aren’t we goofy enough to make it clear that such a relationship would be awkward? Isn’t it obvious that he finds me annoying most of the time?

But I guess I’m letting my attraction to him show way too much.

I’m about to give him an answer that would make that clear when he is called by Trish to the dressing room, and Josh comes out wearing the top half of his costume along with his own jeans for the bottom half. I pace the stage, waiting for him to join me and for Francis to let us know the plan for the next minutes.

“Those are way more comfortable,” Josh says, sitting on the edge of the stage. I sit down next to him and give him a shy smile.

“I guess so.”

He stares at a point far away in the distance and his face slowly turns into a serious expression.

“Jen?” he asks, turning his gaze to me. “How did you manage to keep going without cracking up? It’s obvious we’re gonna scrap the take, so... why did you kiss me anyway?”

The obvious answer would be because I’m a professional, and if I can keep going and the director doesn’t call for a cut, then it’s not my decision to keep a take or not.

But he knows me better than that. He knows that I sometimes lose it for a lot less than what happened on that stage. And his unexpected, stern look tells me that he’s sensing something is up. He wants the truth.

I bring my face closer to his and murmur the words.

“Maybe because I like to kiss you.”

His eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“I don’t believe you,” he says, shaking his head and looking down. “You just figured that maybe the take wouldn’t be totally unusable and you took the opportunity to get it over with quickly.”

“Nope.”

“Jen... don’t play with me, ok?”

“I’m not playing with you.”

I grab his hand and run my thumb over the soft skin of his fingers. He looks up at me in surprise, and I see in his eyes that he’s finally taking me seriously.

I think about my realization from earlier. I’m about to complicate things now. But I can’t keep it to myself anymore.

“I like you, Josh,” I say in a soft voice. “A lot.”

“I know.”

“No.” I stare at his disbelieving eyes. “I don’t think you know.”

“But... Nick...”

“I know. I know it’s impossible. But I can’t control how I feel. I can’t kill the butterflies in my stomach when I see you. I can’t slow my heart down when you look at me. I can’t lower the temperature of my body when you touch me.”

My eyes, obstinately locked on his, suddenly start burning with fresh and unexpected tears.

“I can’t help my body and my heart from wanting you, Josh. Now that you’re asking... I couldn’t hide it from you anymore. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” he asks in a low voice, one that makes my insides twist.

I take a while to answer, looking away to avoid his inquisitive gaze. He’s waiting for me patiently as I figure out what to say.

“Because I don’t want to lose your friendship over that, you know? You’re too precious to me for that. And I’m afraid to freak you out.”

He doesn’t speak for a few seconds. When he finally utters something, in a surprisingly matter-of-fact tone, my heart breaks.

“Is it so shameful to like me?”

“No, of course not. Everybody likes you.”

“Then why would it be a problem when it comes to you?”

I stare at our joined hands, allowing myself just for a second to make room for the romantic feelings I have pushed deep inside me for so long. Letting myself dream of a future by his side, if only our lives weren’t so complicated and he was feeling it too.

“Because all those people don’t like you the same way that I do, Josh,” I admit with a heavy heart. “And that you don’t like me the way I like you.”

“How do you know?”

“That no one likes you like I do?”

“No. That I don’t like you the same way.”

I give him a sad smile.

“It’s obvious, I guess. You must be so tired of me by now. I’m annoying, I’m boring, I’m...”

“Stop it.”

I realize I’m shaking. Josh takes a quick look around, and slides closer to me when he figures out that no one is paying attention to us.

“And to think I thought I was the obvious one out of the two of us,” he says, cupping my cheek with his hand. I stare at his barely smiling face and swallow thickly. “I thought you’d known it for a long time. And that it grossed you out or something.”

“That I’d known what?”

“That I had feelings for you.”

His thumb gently caressing my cheek makes my heart race in response. I plunge my gaze into his, allowing myself for once to see past the playfulness, past the act, past the walls.

And what I see likely mirrors my own look.

“I’m gonna go even further,” he adds in a deep voice. “I love you. I have for a long time. But I’ll respect your choice.”

“Josh...” I whisper, closing my eyes briefly. When I open them again, I find him staring at me with a loaded gaze, one that makes my breath catch in my throat.

“I know. There’s nothing to say. There’s nothing we can do. I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“I love you too.”

He shakes his head, his lips turning into a sad smile.

“No.”

“How can you say that?”

He sighs and looks away, but keeps our hands entwined.

“You can’t say that to me one moment, and turn around to run into the arms of your boyfriend the next,” he finally mutters. I lean my head on his shoulder and tighten my hold on his hand.

“It’s the truth though.”

“What will you do?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ve been happy with him for two years. You can’t throw that out of the window like that.”

“But what if I could be happier with you?”

“You’ll figure that out in time, I guess,” he says, before moving to stand up. “We should go, before someone sees us and starts rumors or something.”

“Yeah. We should,” I reply, taking the other hand he’s lending me to help me up. I end up bumping into his solid chest, and he catches me at the last minute. That unexpected embrace fills my chest with a burning sensation, and as I stare into his bright eyes, I have a strong feeling I’ve found where I belong. I slide my arms around his waist and let him pull me to him for what looks like an innocent hug, but one that we both know is filled with a mix of promise, lust, love and sadness.

“Let’s make a pact,” he whispers in my ear. “If we still feel the same way when we’re done filming these movies, we’ll take the steps to make it real. I don’t want you to make rushed decisions. But I would be lying if I said I’m not dreaming of you every day.”

I lift my head up from his shoulder and take in his determined expression, his love-filled eyes, his soft lips that I’m dying to kiss again, and I nod.

“Okay. And if anything changes before that...” I bite my lip nervously. “I want us to keep the door open.”

“Sounds pretty reasonable to me.”

I can’t take my eyes off his, and so can’t he. He looks around us and drops a light kiss on my forehead before pulling away, just in time to hear Trish shout for his attention. He turns in her direction and she makes her way to us, her face set in a large smile.

“Hey, Trish!” he says, the serious exchange we’ve just had completely pushed away. For now. “Got my costume fixed?”

“Yes!” she says, showing him the pants. “I’ve double-stitched a panel. You should be alright now...”

She winks, before adding:

“...and you should be able to put on your underwear this time.”


End file.
